European Elections

There is no question that the European election results were bad for Welsh Labour - the worst performance for Labour across the UK, with our vote down by 12%. We need to digest that and respond. We have been going backwards in elections in Wales since 2003. We need an honest debate about that, not denial.

Welsh voters will be represented in Brussels by an experienced Labour politician, Derek Vaughan, the former leader of Neath Port Talbot Council. I know Derek well. He is someone who genuinely understands the needs of the Valleys and will work hard on our behalf. But it is disappointing that Lisa Stevens will not represent Wales in Brussels. Lisa was an excellent candidate who made a big impact with party members and in the media. She will have a great future in politics in due course.

Carwyn is obviously right to puncture a few myths about the result. Eluned is right to say that our message wasn't clear. Peter is also right to warn about what happens when Labour voters stay at home or they plump for someone else:

They get the Tories. Tories who wreaked havoc in Wales in 18 miserable years, mines closing, industry closing, mass unemployment, youngsters going on to drugs in despair because they couldn't get jobs and now David Cameron is promising exactly the same recipe of multi-billion pound cuts.

It is important that people note the dangers of being complacent about the possible return of the Conservatives. The Conservative Party gathered most votes not because there is an appetite for Conservatism in Wales, but because many Labour voters, understandably angry about the expenses saga, decided not to vote. In the European election, conducted under a form of proportional representation, that cost Labour one MEP. But in a General Election, or an Assembly election, it could mean the Tories in Government in either Westminster or Cardiff.

Make no mistake about it, the Conservative Party will be hoping that Labour voters stay at home, or flirt with other parties such as Plaid Cymru or the Liberal Democrats. That could let the Conservatives in through the back door. We know what a Conservative victory at Westminster would mean – cuts in public services, such as schools and hospitals, or the free bus travel provided by the Assembly for elderly and disabled people.

Meanwhile, Huw is right to criticise those who attack party staff. This was a political failure, not simply an organisational failure. There are important lessons for us to learn from these elections and we will discuss them as a party.

In the Rhondda we can reflect that these results were better for the party than in 1999. In the 1999 European elections, Plaid Cymru topped the poll in the Rhondda: this time, Labour came out ahead of all the other parties in the Rhondda. Jill Evans has lost in the Rhondda yet again. Plaid's expectations of beating us in the popular vote and winning two MEPs will swiftly be forgotten, I suspect.

Comments

[Assembly insider]

"Meanwhile, Huw is right to criticise those who attack party staff"

It was your bloody researcher who briefed the press attacking party staff!!!!!

[Leighton]

It certainly wasn't David Taylor. I note you are too gutless to give your own name in your latest attempt to smear him.